Job Discussion Forums

[ghost]

In Korea, when you work at a University or Teacher Training College, foreign Instructors are evaluated by the students.

However, the problem with this, at least in Korea, is that the evaluations are very subjective and the results that come out are often based on things which have little or nothing to do with the content of the lessons, but rather extraneous variables like age, appearance, dress and other surface values.

Some Instructors are good teachers, but their contracts are not renewed, typically when their evaluations are below the 80% approval mark.

I surveyed one result from my Institution recently. There were two instructors. One of the instructors was a British guy - over 50, very qualified, but a rather dry teaching style. The other guy, teaching the exact same course, and using the exact same materials, was an Irish young man, who plays the guitar a lot in class, and bears a faint resemblence to U2 singer......(sorry forgot the name). British scholar gets a 66% rating from the student, and the Irish guy gets a 95% rating. Same lesson, same plan - just a different delivery. The Brit. will not have his contract renewed. I spoke to him, and he feels very bitter toward Korea, because everything there (in Korea) is about youth, appearance, etc., and the fact that he is serious about his job, and brings a lot of diverse articles to class, etc. is not valued. You have to feel sorry for him.

What about in the Gulf countries. Do they use evaluations there as a base to determine whether contracts are renewed or not?

Ghost in Korea

[Cleopatra]

Most places do have student evaluations of teachers, but the degree to which these are done systematically, and to which they influence contract renewal, varies a lot from place to place.

As in Korea, superficial features often influence students' evaluations of their teacher. Attitudes being what they are, an obviously 'Western' teacher will tend to be more highly valued than, say, a "Pakistani" (even if the latter is well-qualified and is a citizen of a "Western" nation). I also believe that how you look and dress strongly influences students' perceptions of you, but I've yet to read any Saudi student mention appearances in their course feedback.

I would say one thing that is different vis a vis Korea - at least as you describe it - is the attitude to age. In the Gulf, 'older' teachers are respected, while younger ones may be distrusted a little. However, the main criteria in students' evaluations of their teachers is their 'niceness' - which is often taken to mean a lax attitude to discipline, punctuality and standards of work. A teacher who is 'nice' will be forgiven a multitude of sins - I think it's fair to say that most students here are rather immature in their assessments of teachers. However, since they ultimately are the ones paying our wages, their views have to be taken into consideration to some degree.

[ghost]

That is good to know (about reverence for age), and explains, perhaps, the phenomenal success of teachers like Scot and Van Norden, both of them of mature years.

In Korea, I recently attended an interview which required M.A. as a baseline qualification. There were several of us going through the interview process. Just ahead of me were two young American girls, and they both got hired on that same day, on the spot, because they were young and good looking.

In fact I do some recruiting for my school and some Hagwons, and the first requirement that the Hagwon owners want is someone who is preferably young, blond, female and good looking. All those surface attributes supercede education and proven track record in the academic field.

Another acquaintance was recently pushed out of his University job in Daegu, because the Director does not want Instructors over the age of 50 in Korea, which is considered ancient in Korea. Someone in Korea who is 50 is looked at like someone who is about 65-70 in Western countries.

I exercise a lot every day, and my Director in Gyeonggi Do warned me not to exercise, because at my age (I am of mature age) 'exercise is not good.' They just don't get it here.

When I interviewed public school teachers in Korea, about which teachers they think are successful in school - they almost all mentioned being young and good looking as the most important 'qualities.' Nothing was mentioned with regard to scholarly capacity, experience or other attributes commonly associated with maturity.

The more I stay in Korea, the more I realize what a farcical situation the whole game here actually is.

Ghost in Korea

[bje]

[Cleopatra]

I had a giggle at that one too, bje....

Just a note, 'ghost'. If you are disillusioned by the education system in Korea, be prepared for similar feelings in the Gulf. The problems you encounter here may not be the same as those you deal with in Korea, but formal education is still in its infancy in the Gulf, and as a foreign teacher you will have to cope with all sorts of 'growing pains' .

Teaching here can be fun, and occasionally even fulfilling, but I've never met anyone who doesn't often find it frustrating and infuriating.

[QatarChic]

[007]

In the Gulf the teacher who �buys� his students using his marks, is the one who will get high marks in the students evaluation.

[eha]

My two cents worth: agree wholeheartedly with ALL of the above, but I'd add that these evaluations, while not taken as seriously as seems to be the case in Korea (thanks for the warning!) do have their uses as a factor in the decision to renew or not renew contracts. Whole rainforests are demolished so these things can be administered every semester; whole administrative departments must be involved in the exercise in futility that constitutes their so-called 'analysis'.
Then the teacher gets to see what those kids over whose 'development' s/he's slaved for four months, REALLY thought of his/her efforts. Very motivating. Some of it is so gross that I don't read mine any more; bung 'em in a drawer and incinerate as soon as possible. That's the effect of anonymity; talk about an invitation to irresponsibility. One bright and aware ex-student, long ago, in the days when I used to read them, summed it all up: "what is the university thinking of, to allow empty-headed kids to make these comments about hard-working teachers?" I guess she was in the know about what her colleagues were writing. Now, someone like her might have something worthwhile to say, but to get to the reasonable stuff, I'd have to wade through a lot of self-serving 'blame-the-teacher' rubbish. So I don't read 'em. Well, who cares what young Eight-Absences-in-Three-Weeks thinks of your pedagogical expertise? And his response gets just as much weight as the kid who did respond to you, but none of the facts about him are included.

[Cleopatra]

While I don't disagree with anything Eha wrote, I do also believe that by and large, student evaluations do give a reasonable general overview of a teacher, at least once you factor in (or out) all the nonsense about how "The Miss hates me" and the like.

Of course, to some degree my opinion of my colleagues is based on educated guesswork, since teaching is an odd 'profession' in the sense that while you may work with someone every day, you rarely get to witness your colleagues in the classroom. However, I have found, over the years, that those teachers who consistently get poor feedback also tend to be those about whom I had formed a negative opinion. The reverse is also true - teachers who struck me as professional and competent generally get good reviews from students. Of course there are exceptions, but so long as the evaluations are carefully worded, combined with other forms of employee evaluation and of course taken with a pinch of salt, they can provide a rough guide to a teacher's performance. At the end of the day, even if our students are immature, silly and lazy, they are still our 'clients'.

[eha]

That negates the case the OP used: the older guy rejected and the hip young guitarist being flavour-of-the-month. Part of the problem is ANYONE having the arrogance to comment on anyone else's 'performance', as we're to call it now--- at least, without being invited to do so. I can do exactly the same work with two different groups, behaving in exactly the same way, with virtually the same outcomes; and get an excellent evaluation from one of the groups, and a lousy one from the other. ????? The GROUPS were different, not me. So? I'm responsible for personality, demographic differences, etc?
No, student--- and also administrative---- evaluations are just another imposition of the managerialist mentality that's eroding our professional standing and autonomy these days--- not to mention our sanity!

[Cleopatra]

[eha]

Sure does. So my point is, if we have to have such a demeaning exercise as 'evaluation' at all, at the very least, the level of subjectivity involved should be recognized, before your profile is recorded for posterity--- or at least for anyone who might be out to get something on you...... One of my many problems with the Tefl scene is: why is there so little discussion of such issues, at workshops, conferences, etc? Why have our conferences turned into exercises in fawning over the status quo--- even the ones on the theme of (ha ha) 'critical thinking' or 'reflective thinking'? (No need to answer; I think I know!)

[Cleopatra]

I dont' see why student evaluation of teachers has to be 'demeaning'. Of course, if handled badly by an arrogant and/or incompetent admin. staff, it can be, but I don't think the procedure is neccessarily 'demeaning'. I've been on holidays when I was asked to evaluate the tour guide, and indeed have done university courses where I was asked to evaluate the teaching. It seems inoffensive in and of itself.

As I've said, teaching is in a way a uniquely solitary job - in the sense that you're on your own in front of a class, and rarely get the chance to compare your work with that of your peers. So, how else are you to know if your students are satisfied with your work, unless you do some sort of feedback? It doesn't have to be in writing, and it certainly doesn't have to be reviewed by a clueless admin., but it is necessary.

[eha]

Even when such focus is catered for, there's no way to protect the 'evaluatee' against subjectivity: I've caught (don't ask how!) a student writing that I was 'rarely on time' for class, when I'm famous for an almost neurotic punctuality! No-one would've questioned it. Maybe it was the same student who wrote recently that I was too strict; apparently, I treat the students like 'old people' (sic); I 'don't allow any laughing or joking in my classes'. If s/he means that I don't allow sniggering, ridicule and undermining behaviour--- well, yes, s/he's right. And if s/he meant that I treat them as adults, yes, s/he's right. But those comments go into a system where I'm recorded as some boring fascist-type who runs a concentration-camp type class--- and Mr or Ms Anonymous isn't questioned at all, as to what s/he means?
To me, the very concept of 'Evaluation' is demeaning because of the arrogance involved--- the suggestion that one person can influence the fate of another, WITHOUT BEING HELD ACCOUNTABLE.
I usually ask students, and even get them to write down, what they found useful and what they didn't. It's interactive; I'll ask them to clarify if they haven't. If I find validity, I honour it---- a student said recently that I talk too much. He's right. But then I told that class that they had permission to tell me to shut up when they got fed up with it! (No-one did; but they had a good giggle at the idea)
I know 'evaluation' is a major aspect of all the junk that came into academia from the corporate world in the last thirty years. The only reason it's so entrenched now is that we accepted it. I think it's time these concepts were re-thought at our conferences, workshops, etc. There is actually a growing literature of critical thinking about such ideas-- but it's still mostly confined to academic journals.

[Cleopatra]

Why do I suspect eha has come out on the wrong end of a studnet evaluation a few times too often?